Hey, this weekend is the 10th anniversary Ludum Dare event (#23 to be precise). Click here for lots of info, a chance to vote on the theme, and witness/play the amazing interactive keynote address by Chevy Ray.

I'll be there. Will you? It's time to rock the dare! How can you miss the 10th anniversary event?

Hello folks. I've got a game I'm developing right now (not the one you're waaaaaiiiiiting for.....), a pixel-art platformer. I'm fed up with trying to make tiles I like, and in the long-term, I'd love to find somebody who would work with me often in the future, on many many games, so I can crank out games faster and looking nicer.

So I'm looking for an artist - it doesn't actually have to be pixel art. Vectors or pre-rendered 3D would be lovely too, I can make the game with whatever kind of art. All I need are frames of animation that look cool! I want somebody who can do animated characters as well as tiles. UI elements, title screens, background images, and anything else would be a nice bonus. The tiles are the big thing for me, the thing I personally have the most trouble with.

For every project, I'm always looking for a cartoony and fun style that's really easy to work with, consistent, and eye-popping colors that look juicy and delicious. I'm hoping to find someone who really understands the technical issues and will provide me with work I can plug right into a game without doing a lot of rearranging, editing and processing. That's not such a big deal though, I can help you learn what the specific technical matters of my games are.

I'm also looking for an artist that is really easy to work with. It's very important that you don't flake out and disappear at random, that you communicate clearly and often (not one-word answers, but actual communication), and that you get things done at a reasonable pace (it's never a big rush, but if you disappear for a couple weeks, that's a huge problem). References of things you've completed before are a big plus, because so many people just never finish anything. I'm not looking to hire some super professional art production firm, just a rock-solid trustworthy individual like myself who's interested in the kind of Flash games I do and wants the challenge of making stuff based around specific themes. My biggest issue is definitely going to be how you communicate via email, so be ready to do some typing if you want to prove you're good to work with. I'll tell you right now that I won't feel comfortable working with you unless I see your personality in your emails! I don't want Artbot 4000.

For this project specifically, it's a side-scrolling jump and run platformer as I said, taking place in snowy mountains and Tibetan monastery-type architecture, with non-human kung fu business going on. I'm looking to pay a flat fee this time (probably in chunks as you complete different parts), potentially royalties or more flat pay on future games if this goes well.

Send your resume, links to samples, or whatever you want to tell me to show you can do the job, to jamul@hamumu.com. If you have questions, you can ask there too! If they're public questions, feel free to post them as a comment on this post, so everybody can benefit.

And hey, if you're local to Temecula or Anza, California... maybe we can actually meet and get fancy about this stuff! Local is a plus.